The youngest U.S. president, who took the world to the brink of nuclear war and back
Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.
The 35th president of the United States (1961–1963), elected at 43 as the youngest president and the first Catholic. He authorized the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, and later that year his tense Vienna summit with Khrushchev helped convince the Soviets to place nuclear missiles in Cuba. In the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, he chose a naval 'quarantine' over an airstrike and, through his brother Robert, secretly traded the removal of Jupiter missiles from Turkey for the withdrawal of Soviet missiles, pulling the world back from nuclear war. He was assassinated in Dallas on November 22, 1963; after his death, his civil rights and tax-cut agenda passed through Congress.
Career Timeline
- 1947–1953US Representative, MA-11
- 1953–1960US Senator, Massachusetts
- 1961–196335th President of the United States
Related historical events
- 1961The Building of the Berlin WallUS President, the newly elected leader who refused Khrushchev's ultimatum at ViennaAt the June 1961 Vienna summit Kennedy refused Khrushchev's Berlin ultimatum and upheld the US right to remain in West Berlin.
- 1962The Cuban Missile CrisisU.S. president in the standoffHe chose the naval quarantine over airstrikes and, through secret negotiations with Khrushchev, resolved the crisis at the brink of nuclear war.